https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-495-Staying-True-to-One-s-Original-Aspiration/13537950/
Chapter 496: No Mercy for the Navy
Chapter 496: No Mercy for the Navy
Grand Line.
Warship.
This time, Kuro’s operation only brought three Warships.
Wilbur and Sengoku remained at Shabondy to hold the fort, while Klah and Lida, each serving as Commander, took one Warship apiece, plus Kuro’s own flagship—three in total.
“Let me ask you, don’t you have your own ship? Why keep coming to mine?”
Kuro stood on the deck, gazing into the endless expanse of the Grand Line, then turned to Klah with a dry remark.
Klah glanced at Lida, who was licking ice cream beside Kuro, adjusted his glasses, and remained silent.
Why are you singling me out?!
The Warships were currently heading toward Kusnake Island, the location of Amazon Lily.
“Going to Kusnake, huh…”
Lida licked her ice cream, muttering, “I hate that woman. Kuro, didn’t you have a feud with her? Why go in person? Letting us handle it wouldn’t be enough?”
“Hah!”
Law interjected coldly, adjusting his hat as he leaned against a corner of the Warship to avoid any potential Navy sneak attack. “With your strength, you’d never defeat the ‘Snake Princess.’”
“What did you say?!” Lida shot him a glare.
Law tilted his hat, his tone unyielding. “Just stating facts. While you two are strong, the ‘Snake Princess’ isn’t someone you can handle. Without Captain Kuro, she wouldn’t even acknowledge you.”
It was the truth.
Kuro cast a sidelong glance at Law, silently conceding the point.
Lida and Klah had grown stronger, but compared to Boa Hancock, they were still far behind.
The Snake Princess’s power—no, the sheer might of the former Seven Warlords of the Sea—was in a league of its own.
As for the new Seven Warlords of the Sea…
Frankly, if Kuro were the World Government, he’d never choose these idiots.
Sometimes, fame meant nothing; strength was everything.
Who knew how many monstrous threats lurked in the New World or even the first half of the Grand Line?
Among the new Seven Warlords, the only decent choice was ‘Whitebeard II.’
But even that was Kuro’s biggest annoyance.
“Done talking?”
Kuro snapped impatiently. “Shut up, or I’ll make you taste the ‘Idiot Medicine Pill’ again.”
“You—”
Law gritted his teeth, his face darkening.
A stain on his pride! A lifelong humiliation!
Thankfully, there were no reporters around last time, or he’d be socially dead.
A newly appointed Seven Warlord of the Sea caught playing with “mud and urine”?
That scandal could never see the light of day!
“Kuro, Vice Admiral!”
Fen Ni suddenly found his courage. “That’s not the Idiot Medicine Pill! It’s the Navy Medicine Pill series—the Navy Physical Strength Elixir!”
Kuro ignored him, focusing on Law. “Or maybe I’ll smear some Taunt Elixir on you and send you to fight the Snake Princess.”
“That’s the Wound Recovery Elixir!” Fen Ni corrected, exasperated.
Fen Ni’s inventions, named for their intended effects, often had side effects Kuro felt deserved their own titles.
For instance, the “Restoration Physical Strength” elixir might lower one’s intelligence.
The last batch given to Sazil had left him cackling madly, provoking Klah’s fury. That one could’ve been the “Madness Taunt Elixir.”
Others included the Reckless Serum, which granted fearlessness but triggered berserker rage, or the Hunger Medicine Pill, which boosted strength but left users ravenous enough to gnaw on wood.
Fen Ni’s experiments had led Kuro to issue strict orders: never use these on Navy personnel unless absolutely necessary.
Who knew if they’d save lives or ruin them?
Law fell silent.
He feared death less than he dreaded humiliation.
In Kuro’s words, the media wasn’t advanced enough to spread the scandal—yet.
“Hey, Kuro, is this really necessary? It’s just some unheard-of ‘World Destroyer.’ Why’s the Navy making such a big deal? You even came out personally,” Lida asked, puzzled.
Though the call from He Popo had sounded alarming, she hadn’t felt the threat firsthand.
To the younger generation, Buggy the Clown’s reputation wasn’t that intimidating.
After all, he’d been captured thirty years ago.
“I’m just here to escort the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Buggy the Clown’s business is their problem, not mine,” Kuro replied.
“As for Buggy the Clown… Kas’s ‘Speed-Speed Fruit’ belongs to his subordinate.”
“Speed-Speed Fruit belongs to a subordinate?”
Klah adjusted his glasses, surprised. “Do Devil Fruits have a hierarchy?”
Kas’s true terror lay not in his Devil Fruit, but it had certainly amplified his power.
His ability to accelerate himself—and others—up to tenfold speed, affecting not just movement but even weapon swings and bullets.
The Momo Devil Fruit, meanwhile, lacked area-wide acceleration but offered a hundredfold boost to speed and growth.
A single bullet fired at that speed, expanding a hundredfold mid-flight, could outmatch any warship cannon.
And if fired from a cannon…
A base velocity multiplied a hundredfold, with a cannonball swelling to a hundred times its size—no, the destructive power was better measured in explosive yield.
One shot could reduce Mariejois to rubble.
Kuro wasn’t insane enough to fight someone like that.
“Report!”
A sudden shout from the crow’s nest interrupted. A Navy scout called down, “Enemy ship ahead! The flag identifies it as the 【Giant Pirate Crew】!”
“Hm?” Kuro’s brow furrowed as he turned to Klah.
“Giant Pirate Crew…”
Klah paused, then realized, “Their captain is ‘Giant Gale,’ bounty 890 million. Come to think of it, he’s from the same place as Frank. They’re close.”
“Frank, huh…”
Kuro nodded. That name stuck in his mind.
The pirate who’d once raided a Navy warship meeting, brazenly attacking even after discovering high-ranking officers—Kuro remembered him well.
Wasn’t Kas’s Devil Fruit obtained from him?
“They’re here! Pirate ship incoming!”
The scout’s shout echoed.
No need for reminders now. Kuro turned to see the silhouette of a ship emerging from the sea off the Warship’s flank.
The enemy vessel surged forward, its form sharpening into view.
Indeed, a Pirate Ship.
“So… this guy,” Kuro mused, raising an eyebrow.
He had three Warships under his command—was this pirate planning a surprise attack?
Boom!
As Kuro pondered, the enemy ship fired first, launching a cannonball from the sky.
The colossal projectile descended, shadowing half of Kuro’s massive flagship.
Why “colossal”?
Because the cannonball was far larger than any standard one.
“Unleash destruction!”
On the Pirate Ship, a bearded man slammed his hand on the cannon, laughing wildly.
His crew grinned as well.
“I’ll avenge Frank, my brother!”
The bearded man’s laughter faded, his face twisting into a grimace.
“No mercy for the Navy!”
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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